Let It Disappear
by DragonDroppings
Summary: A short one-shot. Let fire burn everything away. No one should remember this village, where none of us should have existed. It would be better if we all just disappeared. Shiki... And humans. ** An OC reflects on becoming a Shiki.


_The world was being devoured. _

Red-orange.

Flames danced and blazed, breaking down everything in their path. Houses groaned and sank into the earth, their backs hounded by fire.

_The world was falling apart._

The glow had consumed everything. Ash drifted through the air, like millions of tiny, burning fireflies.

Everywhere-everything; burning. The fires crunched and crackled like raging torrents.

_Everyone was burning._

Amidst the blaze, figures could be made out as they turned to dust. Contorted in agony, reaching out for hands that would never come, clutching chests stained by blood.

All of them dead before the flames had reached them.

_They were happy, once._

They used to smile, they used to cry, they used to laugh.

_But they can't do anything anymore._

He was a kind young man. He could act silly, and a little childish sometimes, but he was truly kindhearted.

_He was burning._

She always dreamed of leaving the village. She wanted to move to the big city, where life would finally go her way. That's all she wanted.

_She was burning._

She had finally found a warm home. She had a loving husband, a son, and a wonderful family. She was so happy.

_She was burning._

Their lives meant nothing to the fire. Just as they had meant nothing to the people who killed them.

Hadn't they been friends? Family? Spouses?

So, why?

Why?

She dragged one foot after another, slowly moving along the asphalt road. Her eyes were empty; dead.

Just like her heart.

How long had it been? How long since her heart took it's last beat? Since her last breath faded?

She was a Shiki; something that should never have existed.

She could remember it clearly; the life she'd had before they came for her.

Her name had been Aya.

She had been an introvert, to be sure, so she had liked living in the village. It was quiet, and peaceful. So different from the disorientating flashes of blinding light and suffocating crowds of the big city.

She had loved the open air and soft rolling hills. The mysterious surrounding forests, and the slow paced every day lifestyle.

Of course, she'd known that some people detested the close contact. There were so few living there that it was hard to get away from anyone.

For her, though, that was just another thing she loved about it. You could always be safe in the knowledge that you'd never really be alone. Someone you knew was always nearby.

_ Always_.

But, on that night, there hadn't been anyone around.

Aya had just been decorating a cake when she heard a knock at her door.

_A knock on her door in the middle of the night._

It had seemed a little strange, but she wasn't one to question it; she was the one baking at such a late hour, afterall. Aya brushed her hair back from her face, leaving a smudge of icing along her cheek.

"One second," she called, setting her icing knife on the counter.

The cake was for the doctor at the local clinic. Recently a lot of villagers had mysteriously passed away, and she knew he was working furiously to find a solution. Aya wanted to do something nice for him, with all his hard work. He had always been so kind to her.

Truthfully, while her baking wasn't too shabby, her decorating was awful. The frosting was a messy glob of blue and purple, with an ugly orange happy face. The letters on the top of the cake were sloppily done in white, almost running off the pastry.

All in all, it looked a kindergartner's work. But Aya was oblivious to that.

She hummed happily, turning from her masterpiece to walk to the door. Aya's hand reached for the knob and turned. She didn't bother checking to see who it was; something she would never have done in the city. She felt completely safe here.

The village had always been safe.

"Hello?" Someone stood there, waiting for her.

"H-hello," they murmured, so softly she could barely hear, "May I come in?"

"Oh," Aya blinked, "Of course!"

She could trust the people in the village.

"Um, so," she watched the stranger curiously, "How can I help you?"

"I'm sorry," they whispered, lifting their head to meet her gaze.

Her blood froze, and her heart stopped.

_ Thump_.

There was no way.

No way.

_ Thump_.

No...

_ Thump_.

The room was beginning to sway.

_Thump-thump._

"Aya-chan," he said. He was there.

He-was-really-there.

Tohru Mutou was standing in front of her. Just as she remembered him; tousled light brown hair framing his face. But his eyes were different.

So very different.

They were consumed by black, a ring of blazing red where they iris should have been.

They were terrifying.

And so deeply sorrowful.

In all the time that she'd known him, she'd never seen him look at her with such anguished eyes. Wasn't Tohru supposed to be the happy one? Wasn't he always laughing and enjoying himself?

So why were his eyes so sad?

"I-i..." Aya took an unconscious step backward.

Tohru stepped forward.

What was happening?

What was going on?

Why didn't the world make sense?

_The dead cannot come back to life._

She hadn't known Tohru too well, but it was hard not to like him. She had been at his funeral, she had cried at his coffin.

She had said goodbye to someone who had almost been her friend.

_It was goodbye forever._

So how?

"Forgive me," he murmured. He snapped out his arms and grabbed her. Everything around her moved so quickly it became a blur.

Someone's hands were flailing.

Someone was screaming.

Someone was crying.

Someone hit the counter. Her cake flew through the air.

Her eyes followed it as it moved in slow-motion. She could see it's badly drawn face smiling childishly up at her as it fell.

_Thump-thump._

Blue paint stained the floor.

Red paint stained her neck.

She lay on the ground, numb. There was a sharp, beating pain in her neck.

"You won't tell anyone what happened," came the whisper.

I don't understand.

But he was gone.

There was no one to call the doctor. There was no one to check up on her. No one to wonder where she was.

Aya lived alone.

She stayed like that, on the cold ground, for a long time. It was hard to say for just how long, though the sun began to rise.

Aya watched the light filter through her windows.

What was going to happen now?

She mutely rose from the ground, empty eyes surveying her home. Aya sluggishly climbed to her feet, latching on to the counter for support.

She felt tired; so very tired.

He came again in the night.

And again the next night.

And the next.

Each time her body betrayed her. She felt her own hands open the doors, her own lips invite him in. Aya could do nothing.

Aya became nothing.

Her body grew cold.

When someone finally found her, the cake had begun to mold. The words 'Thank You For Your Hard Work' no longer legible.

So, in the end, no one did get her cake.

If they had, would they have laughed at her decorations? Smiled and thanked her? Would the cake have made Ozaki feel any better?

If she hadn't started making it, would she still be alive?

_ Meaningless_.

It didn't matter anymore.

Her coffin had been carried to it's resting spot in the early morning. Dewdrops shone in brilliant rainbows on the grass. The air was fresh and clean, a stark contrast to the sorrowful procession.

They lowered her into the ground, and she joined the dead beneath the earth.

Cicadas chirped, the only noise over the soft thump of dirt covering her grave.

Even when she rose as a Shiki, she would always remain within that coffin.

Aya was dead.

She was not Aya.

She was a monster.

Aya understood that.

Of course she did.

She recognized what she was the moment she tasted blood.

There was no way back.

_No way out._

Was there any way in the world that she could be forgiven? Was there anyone who would smile and say, 'It's okay, Aya. You only did what you had to. Anyone else would've done it.'

Would they?

Wouldn't they?

Was it all her fault?

Was she a monster?

But it was to live!

Were they saying then, that it would be better for her to just die?!

What point was there in rising, if she should just disappear?!

There was no meaning in that!

Surely... There must be some place in the world for her...

Some place that understood her...

A great, towering building collapsed within itself, leaving a ruin behind. The flames fell with the arching beams as it crumbled away.

_There was nothing left here._

All the Shiki were dead.

She had watched.

At first she understood. The humans were terrified; she had been terrified. The Shiki should not be here, they should leave!

But the Shiki still felt pain. They could still love. And, monsters or not, they still had families. Families which drove stakes through their hearts. Families which mercilessly slaughtered them.

This...

This wasn't what she wanted.

Megumi, Nao, Chizuru, Tohru...

There were so many names.

Even after she'd risen, she'd known them as before she died. Some suffered with her. Some did not. But each of them could still move, and think.

They could still smile and laugh.

They felt!

Aya could still hear her comrade's screams as their friends destroyed them.

There is no way this could be justified...

But neither could the Shiki.

Perhaps she'd always been wrong. It wasn't just the Shiki. Everyone was a monster. They should all just disappear.

_Everyone should fade in the fire._

The sun was beginning to rise, casting light over the dying world.

Everything should just end.

_The Shiki should never have existed._

_ This town should never have existed._

Stretching rays of sunlight met her eyes, and she flinched.

It was better this way.

She cried out as her skin began to peel and burn.

_ Better to disappear._

Let everyone forget this town had ever been.


End file.
